I will never forget where I was when I found out that John Lennon was killed.
I will never forget how I learned this. I was in high school at the time and I was in my bedroom in
New Rochelle, sleeping. For some reason, that I have always wondered about, I woke up and turned on my digital clock radio. The dial was set to WNEW FM and I heard the DJ say that there were rumors around that John Lennon had been shot outside of his home. Soon this was confirmed. I remember Scott Muni, the DJ known as "Scottso" and "The Professor" (for his encyclopedic knowledge of the Beatles) reporting that 'a terrible calamity' had hit the world of Rock and Roll....
I always wondered why I happen to wake up at that time. And why did I immediately turn on my clock radio. Why did I need to know this at the moment in time that it was happening. Was there some message being sent to me. I didn't even like the Beatles very much. And after they broke up I tended to Blame John Lennon for marrying Yoko Ono, and sided with Paul and became a bigger fan of Wings. Why did I need to be part of history while it unfolded; I would ponder this for years...
Anyway, I read the news yesterday, Oh-boy.... Actually it was Post. I saw this tragic story, which the NY Post put the following way: An "American Idol" reject who was obsessed with Paula Abdul - and who was mercilessly ripped by judges after trying out for the show - died in an apparent suicide outside the star’s LA mansion.
The NY Post went on to link every celebrity killing or attack from John Lennon to Monica Seles.
I was truly sorry to read about this details of this story, and felt for this crazy obsessed fan. And I was so obsessed by the details in the paper that I practically missed my stop on the subway. This all stated to conjure up all of my memories of John Lennon's unfortunate death. And brought to mind the unanswered questions as to WHY? Why did I wake up that night back in 1980. Why did I need to know this bit of history as it was unfolding, and why do I continue to attach so much significance to minor details and minutia and miss the larger point of the much bigger stories that are unfolding all around me. This is really THE question for the ages. The last part. (About the minutia vs. the larger big picture...).
One day I hope to answer this, when I can finally figure out how I can be so easily and totally distracted by things and events that happen in the world that in truth have no effect on me. News items that in truth I do not even really care about.
I hope not to forget the sad events of November 13, 2008,sure. But mostly because hopefully it will serve as some kind of a reminder of how distracted by the irrelevant that I can truly be.
DK
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5 comments:
I think your admiration for Wings goes a long ways towards explaining what troubles you.
What...you don't love Band On The Run?
OMG! John Lennon is dead?
David
I think things like your radio thing just clarify the point that some of us have many many layers and see things attached to other things...and remember them....and others miss them totally. I, for one, am glad I am the first type, because it makes the good things better and the not so great memorable. Does that make sense?
I had found out that the love of my life, long separated by time and distance, but still the one in my heart, had died suddenly
(fell off a mountain) and I was going through the shock of all of it. I was working late and going home down a road that there was NEVER any traffic on, outside of Dallas, and I see lights coming on a connecting road and remember thinking wow, I never see anyone on that road. Very slowly it turned in front of me and it was a white hearse. And at that moment the Rolling Stones came on the radio, waiting on a friend, and if there was ever a song that he and I loved, it was that one.
Then the hearse turned back down a road that would have actually made it doubling back. I had to stop and smoke a few cigarettes on that one. I know some people that wouldn't have gotten that message.
sorry so long, and I have a question for you- can I plug your blog and use that motel sign on a post that said I hoped you'd be gone bfore I woke up? LOVE THAT SO MUCH I CAN'T STAND IT
cheers
Bj
Hey BJ-
Woa. I am sorry to hear of your story...That is a tragic story and how you had come to know about it.
I have not gone back to smoking since I got sick over the summer (really deathly ill back in July) and I am afraid to have one. I have to admit that every once in a while I look off to that spot up there in the sky that I tend to look at and my two finders on my right hand get into that cigarette holding position, and I think...boy, would it be nice to have one.
Thanks for checking in and I hope all is well.
DK
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